The Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize, presented each spring, recognizes a student or team of students participating in a BU Campus Climate Lab project that demonstrates the greatest potential to advance BU’s Climate Action Plan goals and promote more sustainable University operations.
Professor Anthony Janetos chaired the 2017 Climate Action Plan Task Force, which led to the creation of the Plan and Campus Climate Lab. To both honor and continue Tony’s legacy, Boston University established this student award to recognize Tony’s leadership and commemorate the significance of those efforts.
2024 Janetos Climate Action Prize Winners
(Pictured left to right): Leon Long, Luisa DiLorenzo, Kai Raina Tung, Associate Professor Emily Ryan, Benjamin Pedi, Sofiya Filippova, and Lorenzo Barale.
Research: Undergraduate students from the College of Engineering, with the guidance of Dr. Emily Ryan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and IGS Associate Director, built compact air pollution monitoring devices to attach to bicycles and improve street-level air quality data. The devices gather granular information on particulate matter, methane, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide and use GPS and motion sensors to track the location of trips and to turn on and off.
Results: The team created 4 fully functional prototype devices and 4 printed circuit boards that have already captured data from multiple neighborhoods. The devices successfully pinpointed minor gas leaks and air quality levels along numerous bike routes. The device demonstrated similar accuracy to Environmental Protection Agency sensor stations, considered the gold standard.
Implementation: The team will use their monitors to gather localized spatial and temporal data on various pollutants across Boston, for analysis by the Computational Energy Laboratory (CEL) at Boston University. The group is now in talks with the municipal owners of Bluebikes about a pilot program to gather air quality data from bike trips around Boston.
Lorenzo Barale (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’25) Luisa DiLorenzo (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’24) Sofiya Filippova (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’24) Maya Lobel (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’24) Leon Long (Electrical and Computer Engineering, ENG ’24) Benjamin Pedi (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’25) Kai Raina Tung (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’24) Bluebike Mounted Air Pollution Monitor
Undergraduate students from the College of Engineering, under the guidance of Dr. Emily Ryan, Associate Director, IGS and Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, developed portable, compact air pollution monitoring devices that can be attached to bicycles to gather street-level air pollution data. These prototype sensor packs measure particulate matter such as methane, nitrous oxides, and carbon dioxide. The team is in talks with the municipal owners of Bluebikes about a pilot program to gather air quality data from bike trips around Boston. Their data is ultimately intended to help inform policy topics including transportation, green space, and public housing. Read the full story in The Brink.
2023: Establishing sustainable laboratory practices and standard operating procedures that offset waste production in biomedical research
Golden’s research contributions, in collaboration with Dr. Angie Serrano, Saylor Williams (Serrano Lab Manger), and Greg Miller (CReM Lab Manager), aim to reduce plastic waste and energy consumption in biomedical research. To date, the team has diverted 556 pounds of plastic over a 5-month period that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill; 418 pounds of plastic were remanufactured into research materials; and 138 pounds were recycled through different means. They have also recycled 100 Styrofoam boxes and counting in 2023 through BU facilities. In the process, the team provided BU with valuable knowledge about waste production in its research labs and helped establish clear standard operating procedures to sustainably manage biomedical waste. Read the full story in The Brink.
2022: Quantifying Scope 3 Emissions Associated with Employee Travel at Boston University
Henning and Vilallonga’s research, which they conducted with Dr. Jacqueline Ashmore, aims to address Scope 3 emissions at Boston University. This research advances University accounting for air travel emissions and addresses a key gap in the implementation of the Climate Action Plan. The research team collaborated with Questrom students, and the results from this project will touch the lives of many on campus.
2021: Developing Heating Electrification Strategies to Decarbonize Boston University's Charles River Campus
Gayatri Sundar Rajan (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’22) Keeley Bombard (Earth & Environment, CAS ’22) Developing Heating Electrification Strategies to Decarbonize Boston University’s Charles River Campus
Sundar Rajan and Bombard’s research, conducted with Professors Michael Gevelber and Nathan Phillips, aims to significantly reduce BU greenhouse gas emissions by developing strategies to electrify the Charles River Campus. Their project developed a preliminary strategy to electrify 52% of BU’s fossil-based heating energy use, identified system design requirements, compared electrification system configurations, and developed an initial electrification plan.
